Winston-Salem, NC – The Center for Design Innovation (CDI) will host its first public performance, Sol Path, on Friday, March 25. Bridging science, technology and art, Sol Path is an immersive music and media work by award-winning composer, cognitive scientist and CDI faculty researcher Bruno Louchouarn.

Developed through a residency at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryand inspired by the exploratory path that the Mars Rover takes over the course of a sol, a Martian day, Sol Path examines the intricate interactions between an Earth-bound team of explorers and a robotic space lab as it searches for signs of life millions of miles away.

Sol Path features renowned violist Brett Deubner, Christopher James Lees leading members of the UNCSA Orchestra, and projection design by award-winning UNCSA Film alumnus Adam Larsen. This piece is a collaborative research and development project between CDI and the UNCSA schools of Music and Design & Production.

Louchouarn joined the UNCSA faculty in fall 2014. He has a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California Los Angeles, and served as director of the Keck Language and Cultural Studio and associate professor of digital media at Occidental College. His experience includes a number of professional sound design projects. Recently, he was nominated for best sound design by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for his work on Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, produced the The Theatre @ Boston Court and Lawrence Fleischman Theater at the Getty Villa.

Two Sol Path performances are scheduled at CDI on Friday, March 25, the first at 7:30 p.m. and the second at 8:30 p.m. Both will occur in The CUBE, CDI’s experimental performance space, at 450 Design Avenue, Winston-Salem. There will be a post-show question and answer session with the artists following the second show. The performance will utilize floor seating on cushions. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own cushions.

About the Center for Design Innovation: The Center for Design Innovation (CDI) is a multi-campus research center of the University of North Carolina system. Located in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, the CDI is part laboratory, part workshop and part convening space. The Center is a visual gateway to a newly emerging Winston-Salem and the greater Piedmont Triad Region. As a new kind of incubator engine powering people across a region long known for its innovations in manufacturing and the arts, the Center works broadly with academic, business and local community organizations along with its founding academic partners Winston-Salem State University, UNC School of the Arts and Forsyth Technical Community College.

The Forsyth County Public Library, in collaborative partnership with the Center for Design Innovation, is pleased to offer two, one-day Teen Maker Workshops for high school and middle school students.

These workshops will blend the art of storytelling with the creative potential of 3D technology and additional maker activities to make masks. Local presenters will share their expertise with students who will then create a 3D object for a mask. Finished masks will then go on display at library locations across the region.

The workshop for high school students will take place on Saturday, March 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bridging science, technology, and art, Sol Path is an immersive music and media work by composer/cognitive scientist Bruno Louchouarn.

Developed through a residency at NASA/JPL and inspired by the exploratory path that the Mars Rover takes over the course of a sol – a Martian day- Sol Path explores the intricate interactions between an Earth-bound team of explorers and a robotic space lab as it searches for signs of life millions of miles away.

Sol Path features renowned violist Brett Deubner, Christopher James Lees leading the UNCSA orchestra, and projection design by award-winning Adam Larsen. The

Winston-Salem, NC – January 13, 2016 – The Center for Design Innovation (CDI) has recently received gifts from two global technology giants. Microsoft and Facebook have each provided CDI with cutting edge gear for their latest virtual and augmented reality platforms. With the purpose of academic research and exploratory design, the center plans to build out these emerging mixed-reality platforms right here in the Triad region.

Facebook Oculus Rift

CDI received a gift of several Oculus Rift virtual reality developer kits version 2 from Facebook’s research division. Oculus Rift will be used to